The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for monitoring, calculating, and/or optimizing engine emissions produced in operating motorized equipment (e.g., pumping equipment) in well site operations or other jobs.
The performance of subterranean operations at a well site entails various steps, each using a number of devices. Many subterranean operations entail pumping one or more treatment fluids into the subterranean formation. For example, drilling operations play an important role when developing oil, gas or water wells or when mining for minerals and the like. During the drilling operations, a drill bit passes through various layers of earth strata as it descends to a desired depth to drill a well bore. During the drilling process, a drilling fluid may be pumped through the drillstring into the well bore, among other reasons, to circulate drill cuttings out of the well bore to the surface and/or to cool the drill bit or other downhole equipment. In another example, hydraulic fracturing operations are often used to increase the production of desired fluids (e.g., hydrocarbons, water, etc.) from a formation of interest. In hydraulic fracturing operations, a fracturing fluid is pumped into a well bore that penetrates a subterranean formation at a sufficient hydraulic pressure to create or enhance one or more cracks, or “fractures,” in the subterranean formation. The creation and/or enhancement of these fractures, among other things, may enhance the flow of fluids through the subterranean formation so that they may be produced out of the subterranean formation more readily. In another example, downhole cementing operations typically involve the mixing and pumping of large volumes of cement into a well bore, among other purposes, to prepare the well bore for the production of fluids.
In these and other well site operations, motorized pumps as well as other types of engine-driven motorized equipment (e.g., drilling motors, blenders, conveyers, and the like) may be used to perform a variety of tasks related to constructing, completing, and maintaining the well site and/or producing fluids from the well. For example, heavy duty pumps typically are used to transport treatment fluids such as drilling fluids and fracturing fluids from tanks, trucks, or pits at a well site into the well bore and to introduce them into the well bore at the rates and pressures needed to perform a particular treatment or operation. The operation of this equipment often requires large amounts of fuel (e.g., diesel, gasoline, natural gas, etc.), which may be costly to procure, transport, and maintain at a well site. Fuel-burning engines and other devices also may produce various types of emissions, such as nitrogen-based compounds (e.g., oxides such as nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide), carbon-based compounds (e.g., carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and non-methane hydrocarbons), sulfur-based compounds (e.g., oxides such as sulfur monoxide), excess oxygen concentration, particulate matter, or the like. In some cases, these substances may create undesirable health and/or safety risks, and the maximum amounts of such emissions permitted at a particular job site may be regulated and/or taxed by law in certain regions.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to example embodiments of the disclosure, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.